openly...

i was talking with a new young friend... about music (surprised? she's that cool!)... well, i started talking about a song i heard and liked, avril lavigne (i still dont know how to pronounce her name properly in french-canadian)...
anyway, i liked her this song called 'so much for my happy ending'... and it flowed out why... becoz she's openly bitching about her recently ex-boyfriend. i liked her honest frankness in expressing such a usually hidden emotional state.
i had written few poem lines based on that song or more like its theme's impact.
i will have to search for it, so i will post it later... haha
back to be blogging...
gooding feel...
;)

education etc.

Had been to a primary school in a rural area (about 100 km away from Mumbai)... and lots of things I used to take for granted blew up in my face.

The children in this school were from poor families, and its a government school where students don’t have to pay any fees for education (read non middle class school, which i am used to in general).

Most of the students ranging from age 6 to 10 years old, seemed under weight, and in comparison to middle class school students, not exposed or taught much. Many of them had poor pencil grip, were specking in pidgin variety of local language, and quite passive (low achievement need, or not much competitive). It seemed to be such a different world compared to a city school atmosphere.

India as still a third world country (or under-developed) hit me hard enough, I guess. Even though these rural school students also will have a school education certificate, they definitely would be at a great disadvantage if compared with same level middle class private school students. And I could imagine how much influence a school can have the attitude of a person.

Such schools and students would be common all over India. About 50% of the Indians would be as poor as these families from this rural school… and that many children go through such a sub-standard educational training. Can’t imagine what would be the impact of such a poor training and exposure they get and the meaning of ‘discrimination’ bared its fangs at me in those last 2 days.

BPL (below poverty line) is an index used to measure poverty in India. I checked on this and found that, the BPL figure India is somewhere around 26%. (That’s for a population of 1100 million people). The BPL definition is, if the person can spend Rs. 540 a month on food, then he/she is above poverty line. And mostly our national statistics would label a person as above BPL if he/she earns more than Rs. 540 a month, regardless of whether they spend that much amount on food (finding out how much a person spends from overall monthly earnings for food would be much more difficult to obtain).

The above 2 paragraphs contain quite a few hazardous guesses, but even if 25% of population of India (more than 250 million people) live Below poverty line, you can imagine how it would be affecting the progress of the country overall.

Fleetingly...

How fleeting our state of mind is... of course, sometime it might even last for some years, but when you look back, it seem moments earlier. Our emotional states they play trick on us by making us believe it will remain for ever. Love, which has had the biggest media advertising campaign ever to support it is just one example.

But often the good-ness or heroism is shown as unwillingness to change. movies for example show the hero or the good side as sticking with their ideals their whole life, show one side bathed in sun shine from beginning to end.

of course, movies also show the temporary nature of emotions, as they make us go through various states within the duration of few reels...

But maybe we humans need to be brainwashed (indoctrinated) with all this concepts which are socially approved to stick together as a group? How much indoctrinated a group need to be to stick together? Maybe more important still... how much integrity should there be in one person (personality) for that person to be normal? (Here I am using integrity as similar to an indoctrinated group). Of course, no one would like dictatorship when it comes to social situation...

But as an individual, single focus or dictator like single personality trait is often appreciated. (And a chaotic, democratic personality structure (person) would not be considered as a role model.

[I had argued that integrity as something good in an earlier blog. But of course, here context is different to some extent at least, or so I hope].

Maybe its bit too complex. but a germ of an idea, and comparison between group and individual, I feel exists somewhere up there in those words, maybe just fleetingly…

another 1st

november 1st, a new month begins... though never cared for a date to start something. but today was thinking of ways to get out of this goal-less-ness cycle. maybe i needed a break ;)

i guess it would be common enough, to have such feelings & thoughts of just existing without a purpose, more so if you are un-attached singleton. (maybe by being unattached, by distancing yourself away from even your friends you achieve such a state).

being forced to remain unattached doesn't seem to be an option for netizens, as all you have to do is click on the numerous spams you receive everyday. of course there are 100's of friendship network sites and all that.

but yeah, just plain interaction with others seem to help and today i could feel it. maybe this is another new beginning, another fresh attempt to improve, achieve, be part of the guilt free, functional member of the civilized world. (you can ignore my sarcasm, its not part of the goallessness, but general part of me ;) there, i even cracked a joke).

Does this need for other people mean i am dependent on others? but does anyone exist on their own? the search is on...

pax vobis

Surprising that the numbness in the mind doesn’t translate into the finger tips at times. Give a guy a week, without any thing to do, give a future blank, and sometimes electricity runs through the brain or sometimes nothing.
Goal-less-ness can be a can be a gift or curse, or some other elaborate terms like existentialism, meaninglessness, depression etc. All these terms seem to radiate with goallessness too, even though in some spiritual context they become goals themselves.

Yeah... Whatever…
That’s my fav. word these days
OK, world, I am waiting out,
Move around me, I am not gonna run
Around in circles any more.

A different type of entry, pasted here for eternity… as long as I remain anonymous, I need not fear being judged. What happened I don’t know, meaninglessness remain like saltless food on my mouth.

Maybe its not fashionable to write about self, when a few hundred public causes float in the blogosphere, which everyone seem to try to blot it with their pet issues, such as discrimination, land grabbing polluters, celebrity evil deeds... just take up any one to fight over seems to be the mantra.

Trying to sit still, focus, or even just eat have become hard enough, but yet advice still remains the biggest fear of all. Guess I am abstract enough now. Astala vista, pax vobis.

how does that happen?

I saw a recently released hindi movie called ‘lage raho munnabhai’ (it’s sprinkles of Gandhian philosophy, and I would recommend it as a good see, try to get a dvd with English subtitles).
In that movie, there was one actor, who plays / acts as a sikh (sardar) character, i.e. person from Punjab, India. The guys who wear a turban and beard as religious symbols. This actor originally is not a sikh, but he portrays that character very well.

Today, I saw one sikh person who seemed just like the character, seemed just like that character. I started wondering why it seemed so? How did this actor could copy and imitate a Sikh person just with his looks? And I realized, the Sikh guy was wearing his pants way below his navel and was wearing a belt at low waist. I realized the connection as the actor also wear similar style cloths in that movie… but even without realizing this background connection, we human’s can understand the similarities, its like magic (to me) sometimes.

I like to understand the inner processes… even though a person can just learn to appreciate & enjoy the acting (in the above case) without really knowing about the background connections.

I guess the above 2 lines would be the answer to a friend who kinda asked me this question, ‘how did you turn out to be the way you are?’… Well, actually I have been asking that question to myself since years, but had no good explanation for that. i.e. rather than just accepting something, I try to see why its so? How it’s so etc. etc. I guess such a questioning attitude helps one to break out of their past, home culture and stuff like that…

Been on a vacation for sometime, but back now… though will take some more time to digest those experiences enough to write on them… but blogs are like very understanding friends?

Schizophrenic shit

Why do Indians do it? Talk about gender equality on one side and force their children to follow an arcane ritual from ancient times… Talk about IT on one side and follow an astrological chart for marriage on other side…

What’s the connection between Indians and scientific temper? As the blonde jokes go, same as a blonde and intelligence? There are Millions of Indians who have studied pure sciences, and their branches, engineering and medicine. And millions more are currently studying (and the anti-reservation fight was mainly fought on those course campuses, just reporting though)… But India mostly imports technology from outside, there seem to be nothing much coming up in research ideas from these science grads. Why?

Are the Indian children force fed on Farex, milk and exam oriented answers? Do they like in the loo, just produce shit in the examination hall as an end result?

Centuries old culture is ruined by call centers, or are they disturbing the staid method to make academic automatons since centuries? Religion is the opium of the masses, whew, this keyboard is turning schizo too. ;)

Blogs of passion

Why do we/I write shit disguised as a blog?
Why do we/I write any shit at all?
To see our names in print?
To become famous?
To help the economy by helping publishing companies?
To share our valuable insights drawn from our unique experiences and even more unique (?) interpretations?
To become more articulate?
Or is it just that as written in the famous American bumper sticker, ‘shit happens’?

And how do we write? How does it come out – Systematically? Chaotically? In a flow when we are in the zone?

My process of writing seem to come out through some unknown process and I have been trying to understand it – I start writing and even if I have no idea in the beginning or even middle, it ends up as a whole. A wrote a short story, titled ‘not that crazy’, and it reflects such an experience.

I was trying to sleep at night, and I remembered a Hindi movie song and got up to write something with that as a beginning… A guy is listening to that song and what happens to him? Through this process I wrote a story about a guy suffering from schizophrenia. The whole process took about one hour (the story contains roughly 1500 words or two typed pages). I had no idea how I will end it, or what will come up next when I was writing it. I was on a roll. Wish I was more of a conscious writer than the above kind of unconscious one, because I will be able to write when I wanted to, rather than just wait for that flow or mood to strike me.

Well, it’s been the same for blogs as well. Sometimes none for a month, and sometimes 3 in one day. Gotta thank Sudip who told me to keep at it, an American Joe who reads it, and Jaadya too… I guess that wraps up everybody… oh, yeah, the blogger, yeah gotta thank them too?

What a friend of a friend found on a trash can in a Mumbai local train:

It was a typed page – with this written on it…
Is sexuality or sexual behavior just a value?
Does physical intimacy require some commitment or ‘love’?
What’s cool/good & what’s not, when it comes to having single or multiple sexual partners?

Forget sexuality just that word is enough to give indigestion... even though its just a value?

Let’s check this one behavior, which has been observed many times on Bombay roads:
Teenagers walking holding hands with mother / father, while walking on the road (in India)…
Does it show better family relationships (in India?)
Does it show lack of inhibition & ability to show freedom of expression of Indian parents/teens?
Or does it show the teens are un-cool?
Or does it show that teens are over-protected, socially uneasy with peers?
Or that they are obsessed with own family?

Or all of the above / some of the above could be true?

Is there a connection between the above and below paragraphs?

…Forget it, that found page on that trash can… its more trouble that its worth? ;)

7/11 mumbai blasts

Bomb blasts in 7 areas of Bombay (or Mumbai) within 11 minutes (from 6.24 pm to 6.35 pm) was a terrible news, though cannot be very unexpected. The railway is the life line of Bombay, and during rush hour, hundreds of people crush themselves into each compartment. population density would be the highest in such compartments during those rush hours, and anyone who has experienced this in Mumbai local train is not likely to forget it in his/her life time.

These blasts occurred only in first class compartments, which are more expensive (10 times more expensive than second class compartment), and comparatively less crowded. is there a reason to target first class compartments? (I read in BBC internet news report which had erroneously reported that first class passengers can be identified beforehand).

There is no way to distinguish who will climb into any compartment, because there is no booking in local trains, you just climb in. You don’t even have to buy a ticket to get into a railway station or a train, and you are fined only if you are caught by some handful of ticket checkers who seem to be present mostly during the first week of beginning of a month (salaries are paid, so people will have money to pay fines). Anyway, what I want to say is, there’s no security system as such, and I remember how just 1 year before (7/7) London railway series blasts police could check video of passengers getting into the stations.

If the blasts were done by LeT (lakshar e Toiba) or some such fanatic group who usually claim to fight for Islam. They would have harmed Muslim passengers as well (reports already show that some Muslim passengers have indeed died in these 7/11 blasts). These terrorist actions create mass psychological impact as well. Though I hope it won’t lead to religious disharmony and riots. Focusing on a single identity of the religion of the attackers (terrorists) and generalizing it on to a whole community is as criminal a thing. If such a terrorist was a woman, then are all females to blame? If one of them is left-handed, then are all left-handed people to be judged?

We live in a complex world and each individual has such multiple identities. Everyone is a minority in that sense, or even unique… for example, you might be the only person who is 5.11 inches tall, has light brown skin, a square jaw, a spot on your left ear, and can speak 3 specific languages, with a liking for sports cars. But such rational or logical thinking often seems alien and riots and mob killings have occurred in Mumbai as well in other areas of India before. These lead to a vicious cycle and more terrorists are created.

The common error or judging a whole group as good or evil increases during intense emotional states. And the suicide squads formed as early as 13th century (called Fidayeen) in the middle-east Asia was trying to achieve the same panic state of mind, and blind retaliation and its cyclic process. (I have used the word fidayeen for its historical purpose only and not in any religious context, but that word seemed to have become synonymous with suicide squads). Similarly terrorists are attempting to bring about macro level changes by creating unexpected micro event/s, and we need to think & prepare ourselves to defeat the purposes of such inhumane acts.

The 7/11 blasts have killed almost 200 people and injured many more. Thousands would have been shocked by the impact and noise as well. But amazingly the always on-the-go Mumbai spirits has withstood many such major shocks previously and hope it does so again... Of course, Mumbai police is providing information about people injured in the blasts through their website (even a decade ago, it woulda been sci-fi), the link is http://www.mumbaipolice.org/images/news_cp/1blast/blast.htm and the information is pretty detailed and done quickly; remarkable!

Abstention v/s Activation

What happens when you want to keep writing blogs is… initially it seems tougher, but if you persist, then voila! Your fingers effortlessly type the same shit which otherwise would come huffing and puffing. Anyway, let’s get to the idea...

What’s more tough? Abstaining or doing something?

Well, I had gone to a small specialty restaurant just because it’s nearby. They have some not generally available dishes on their menu, and I ordered one such dish, which I earlier, and remembered it to be very tasty. I got my order, and a plate was kept on my table, and just the second before I was about to plunge my spoon and fork in, I tried to recollect its taste and almost shocked to realize that I had no recollection of that previous taste. I could have kept my spoon and fork down and walked out of there at that time.

I had ordered it out of a general recollection, but I had no specific recollection of the taste. And I remembered experiences shared by friends who had to go on a diet and had to fight the craving to eat their favorite but high fat dishes. Could the craving be due to their ability to remember or recollect those particular taste experiences very vividly? Does the cognitive processes of the brain play such an important role?

Obviously, the whole process of cognition would be cyclic, and level of interest would make those memories stronger, and thus those memories would be stored deeper, thus make them easier to recollect, which in turn… and so on.

Anyway I know since many years that it would be easy for me to follow dietary restrictions. I had as just like that, experimented by starving myself for 2 days consecutively, or eating one bowl of boiled sago (Sabudana is how it’s most common term for it in India, which looks like small white spheres made from tapioca roots). This boiled Sabudana had no sugar, salt or spices, which had no reason, but I just wanted to try it out, as deprivation of spices and salt often produce strong food cravings. But I could go through these days, without major struggles. (My lack of interest in food also is seen as an undignified characteristic by gourmands).

But this absolutely doesn’t work with cigarettes for me. I have experienced what Mark Twain told in a succinct way, “I can quit cigarettes any time, I have quit it 1000’s of times already”. I am now trying to empathize with dieters by linking this cigarette craving with their food cravings, as well as trying to apply what works for me automatically or unconsciously for me while following abstinence.

Abstinence of un-healthy activities is one issue, but activation & maintenance of healthy habits is another equally or even more important issue. Are these two more similar, or are they more different from each other? Something to think over…

R.O.C.K & R.E.B.T

Understanding ROCK climbing & REBT principles happened together for me last week. A group of us had gone to a hilly area, with a sea bay flowing near through it, situated in a rural / undeveloped place. The place we were in was a house on near top of a hill with somewhat wooded area surrounding it. There were kids too, from 5 onwards to 13 years of age. As the elders gathered together to chat, the kids began to get restless and I decided to explore the surrounding area with them.

We decided to check out the bay and some fishing boats there and they were visible from the place we were staying (about 6 of us). Instead of going through the paved path, we decided to go through ‘secret paths’ (actually some rough paths & not the regular road), which was accepted eagerly and we began our exploration. Although it was monsoon season, there was no rain, but some cloud cover reduced the intensity of the sun. Soon enough we encountered some rock patches and steep ways and the kids began to hesitate.

At first I could not understand the hesitation, because with my height of 5.11” it was easy for me, but for them those 2 or 3 feet rocks were as good as 5 or 6 feet tall rocks for me. This made me realize that I could help them to learn rock climbing principles, as with my height I could provide safety for them. Also I have been going for trekking and rock-climbing for the last few years. I knew it would be easy for me to hold them and help them to climb up or down, but that wouldn’t help them to learn. So I had to facilitate, which is easier said than done.

Initially, instructions and what not to do etc. automatically blew out from my mouth, and I began to realize that in order to get the things done I was imitating exactly what my elders had done to me and it is not facilitation. I had to pause each time such words and even whole sentences jumped out internally, and then paraphrase them or change them totally before speaking out. Incidentally, the number of times ‘NO’ automatically came while dealing with children was shocking in itself. How would I feel if someone behind me kept saying NO or stopped me from doing something even before I thought of it? It would ruin the fun of a picnic exploration, and would raise more self-doubts or would make me feel like rebelling without a regard for risks involved.

It evolved slowly, and I began to do more of observing than commanding. Our group dynamics also was changing, as the children seemed to understand unconsciously and as usual were much faster at adapting to the environment around them. From the earlier mode of the eldest person (me) as the restrainer and the children as the ones who try to stretch how farther they can go and our roles balanced out. Their sense of responsibility became visible (maybe because I was observing in a better way). And it was amazing how even the small ones were taking care of each other as well as teasing each other to perform. These things just happened and without holding on to the past resentment or gratitude they would race ahead.

One of the major things about rock climbing or walking through a non parallel area is sense of balance. We are habituated (especially city dwellers) to roads, flat surfaces, broad steps etc, and going through slops, steeps, rocks and other uneven surfaces becomes a major concern, and attempts to over balance oneself occur during these periods of fear proves to be counter productive.

I had to learn this during my trek and rock climbing expeditions with my experienced friends, and I learned through observing them. When a layman walks through a slope, to adjust for the slope, he/she slants own body for a sense of safety, but actually leads to reduced balance. But in actuality, leaning the body to a side increases the chances of slipping. Our ankle can be bent and thus flat side of our foot is what should press itself on to the sloppy surface; our body needs to remain straight. Well, not easy to understand, so let me use an example.

Suppose Tom is walking in the direction of bottom of this page to top, and the page slopes towards left side about 25 degrees. His tendency will be to twist his upper body towards the right side (maybe about 25 degrees), which seems common sense, but it increases the probability of him slipping to left. Humans do such things automatically or instinctively. Of course lots of practice might help us to learn the proper way to walk on slops, but often such learning’s remain unconscious or we remain unaware about the principles behind our actions. There is one more thing which stops us from learning and that is if we rigidly hold on to our beliefs formed during those fearful moments.

Suppose Tom is told this principle, will it make him change his posture immediately & make him walk the proper way? Chances are low that such a change will happen immediately even when we become aware of the right principle. We might follow the more risky behavior or avoid practicing all together.

Then what to do? How to teach children who would be even less willing to listen to theoretical gibberish? Give them time, and give them opportunity to practice. And that’s what happened on that day, though I had to fight with my instincts to help them, or command them or make them learn immediately. I had to change my reasonable demand, “since I am putting in so much effort, they should master the task immediately”, and remind myself repeatedly of an unreasonable expectation that, “this is just one day, and they will learn as much as they can during this opportunity”.

Well, of course, this story did have a happy ending, as towards the evening, the once hesitant kids were walking through the slops by bending their ankles and the body straight, willing to use their muscles in newer ways, and with a sure sense of balance in their style. Though much of my learning that day was not so visible, my pride might have shown through though...

just another blog ;)

whew... i dont have any idea what i am gonna write here, but thought will attempt some spontaneous writing...

in last blog we saw how 'isms' or political systems can make society stronger, but the individual weak, and vice versa... (well, may the message might not be clear, so its like - a strong group who runs the system may neglect individual rights... or in the name of all around development, some individuals will get trampled on etc. and if there's too strong an individualism, then the whole group may suffer... )

am i making sense? well. let's get to the point anyway. what kind of system would be most progressive and protect everyone's rights as well? hmm... seems a stupid question? are you part of any group? club? or anything? or just look around your neighborhood... can there be any improvements? or the way through which you regularly travel, or your organization or institution.. . such ideas need not be worthless a day dream; you need not require power or resources to turn your ideas right away into action. just think, that's the first step.

bye for now.

its been so long... almost forgot my blogger password..

well, from earlier posts, the blog focus (blogus?) has been changing to my personal experiences. anyway, as long as its free, i cant see any reader complaining ;)

yeah, the hot topic in india these days is, anti-reservation. (increase in reservation for OBC & SC/ST - Other Backward Castes, Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribes - i.e. the lower castes).

now, all over media, one sees anti-reports (these reports are not directly anti, but they just report anti-reservation related events)... and i began to wonder, where are the pro-reservation people?

maybe the pro-reservation ppl dont want to give any reports/comments because it will be like pouring oil into a anti-reservation fire? or pro-reservation ppl are contented to sit back quietly as no political party would oppose reservation as it would lead to lose of millions of votes?

there are multiple views ofcourse, and i had recently glanced through a book by arun shourie, called 'workshipping false gods', which focuses on criticisms against dr. ambedkar, and how history is twisted after the indian independence to create dr.ambedkar as a messiah of lower castes, and that he is not the sole maker of constitution of india. after independence, reservation for people from lower caste was supposed to last for 10 years, but it has been continued since then.

but history twisted around, which had happened in 1940's, which is about 6 decades? well, like someone had said, "there is no objective history, but only interpretation of happenings from someone's point of view"...

but inequality does exist in india; the wealthy try to keep their wealth through hook or crook; republican party is big in US; and a system to bring equality to everyone called communism has lost majority of its coverage. Does it mean capitalism is the only way ahead? shouldn't there be some protection against exploitation? well, maybe human race needs a better system than capitalism, or a better system than communism as well... groups need strong leader to progress rapidly, but power can easily corrupt individuals. of course, this one ends in a question mark as usual.

well, i break my silence to put in a eyewitness report of a tribal dance-drama, hope it suits the style of this blog (as if it has some style!)... read on:-

On 13th April 2006 night, from 11.15 pm to 12.00 night, a magnificent performance of ‘bear in the jungle’ a dance-drama was done by tribal youth as part of ‘Ma Danteswari Jatra-2006’, in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, India. This spectacular show, replete with subtle nuances of theatric exposition was a totally enjoyable experience. It’s not easy to describe or to understand it through reading about it – but lets both try to do so.

The show began after a drizzle of a rain peeped a bit through the summer night without dampening the festive atmosphere at Shodgram, a Tribal health initiative (www.searchgadchiroli.org). Around 500 people were gathered and sitting in a big circle to view this show.

And the show begins with drumbeats, and about 15 people, in magnificent leaf headgears and flowing dresses dance in to the performing circle, their movement flowing in a line. They cover less than one-fifth of the arena, and with mesmerizing rhythm keep moving around the circle. One half of this group are males who are stamp the walking sticks they carry in synch while the women are carrying woven bamboo baskets either on their hip or on their head.

The drum beats slowly increase, and other characters fill in effectively using the line of walkers, the gaps in the audience circle to move in and out of view; scaring the kids in audience, monkey’s are seen jumping around, a small bear is seen hustling about, a black faced huge bear is glimpsed, white painted monkeys mock around, and an old man with a huge turban on his head, carrying a water bag and an unwieldy stick is seen walking around in a tired, stooping but rhythmic way, obviously lost. Also seen is a strapping young man, carrying on his shoulders, two large baskets tied on a stick; he unfortunately has many encounters with animals, and fortunately escapes each one of these along with his baskets.

Then a group of 4 to 5 hyper energetic hunters with rifles enter this scenario and pandemonium breaks loose. These hunters attempt to create some kind of temporary stillness in this jungle, long enough for them to calmly aim but in vain. They also appear very human and are not particularly observant or brave, and thus find themselves frequently startled by sudden appearance of some animal, run helter-skelter, trip and fall around till they re-group again to hunt.

The small bear has a long face cover (made of bamboo, a modified rice-chaff differentiator), which limits its vision, and naturally leads to comic situations. The old guy walking around in stiff limbed rhythm has the confounding habit of appearing in unexpectedly in the middle of thick & thin, and never fails to evoke laughter either. These comic elements surprisingly are enacted without becoming overtly slap-stick because they don’t seem preprogrammed conscious enactments.

As the show progress, the speed gradually increases along with faster drum beats, till the big bear wounds a man. Background music stop and the human members huddle around the wounded person and get someone to treat him. The old man is the lone character who remains mobile. The wounded man recovers after treated by two people and then drums restart. The hunters, animals and walkers return reinvigorated and action explodes through their criss-crossed interactions, till after few unsuccessful attempts, a lucky strike by one of the hunter leads towards the big bear’s death and to a jubilant end.

In this group effort, naturally available props are modified to bring out startling effects; various theatrical elements are mixed together to provide classic entertainment without high expense; and through involvement the actors connects with the audience who can almost feel as if they were on this jungle safari themselves. If you have read till here, then let me end by wishing you in the future a chance to experience in person, this amazing performance.

been watching a lot of recent movies. 'crash' and 'goodnight & goodluck' stand out. i could get the script of 'munich' by googling. reading a script almost gives me a feeilng as if i have seen that movie (though some of my friends consider reading a script as boring).

talking about reading a script, i had read one unofficial script version of 'minority report', and i liked it so much and decided rented out a cd or dvd, i forget. the movie was quite different!! i was disappointed as the official script was lousy compared to the unofficial script.

of course, giong back to the first para, i also saw, 'capote', maybe didn't enjoy becoz had not read 'in cold blood' or seen him on tv ever.

been reading a lot too, mainly pulp fiction books like, stephen king, ildes, connelly and stuff... just fall on to my bed and keep reading till the sun rises and birds makes all kinda noises, thought i wouldn't be doing that stuff in my thirties.

well, will be soon going to a tribal area, and hopefully be there during a tribal festival. i guess the tribe is called as 'gonds'. i am pretty much looking forward to this trip, and watch out this space, i told you about this first.

and yeah, sometimes i wonder whether anyone reads such blogs, there must be billions out there. So, if you read this, do write something on the comments... ok? its not for my ego trip, but hey, knowing whether someone ever reads this or not is important, right?... "YEAH".

Turn it around, make it stand on its head, ulta-pulta, up-side down, etc. etc. the sentence 'and god created man'...

which will turn out to be, 'and man created god'... (dont stop, read on...) For what?

yes, ask this question.. "for what?" along with it to give it a continuous properly, to read ahead, don't let your brain filter away this question...

The primitive human created the idea of 'god' for practical purposes, its as simple as that. our brain gets frustrated if we cannot find an explanation, and since the primitive human had so less knowledge about the world around him, 'god' became creator of the world around him.

at present, in most civilizations, there are powerful male gods,
but if you try to read mythology (or call it as history of 'god'), you will find that female goddesses prevailed, because man (read human-being) was establishing himself in this world. the female godess's attributes were suitable to survive in those primitive conditions.

due change happened all over world, and masculine gods rose up in status, and currently they dominate. as man had by then established some amount of control over his immediate environment. so, now man was looking out to over-power others or was trying to defend their regions from other attackers, and built up agressive male gods.

at present, in this 21st century, males are not considered as superior, but the in thing is 'gender equality'...

so does the superior male gods of today need to change? should some equally powerful female godesses rise up? but would that really lead to gender equality?

if everywas religious or forced to be conventional then... probably it may happen.

then, to change people, all one require is change in status of gods.

many other social behavior could be controlled through changing gods. for example, if alcohol addiction increases, then make the gods sober, and populace would be forced to follow suit...

thus even today, many peole are conditioned to be rigid (or even fanatic) about their religious beleifs... because the underlying belief is that, 'its for the greater good of the soceity/mankind'.

That rigidity, or not willing to change has been and will be useful.
but moderation or willingness to change also is useful... at times.

when to go for what? that remains a never ending quest.

Maybe real democracy will prevail if everyone can vote 'for' and 'against'...
not just one vote, but mark it on a scale of 1 to 10...

then suppose, in a country with 100 people, a person getting just 51 votes might not win. also just getting a simple majority which could be less than 51% if there are more than 2 candidates.
some bugs could be:-
its more complex for everyone to understand - But through mass education it can be handled?
it may not give a result - But the chances of that happening is v.low? (need to analyze a bit more, whew).

yeah, i gotta include comments section to my blog... let me work on that now. see ya.

its not easy to write shit disguised as philosophy, or maybe i am just reading too many MAD magazines these days...

anyway, recently had met a friend who kinda charges up others around him, of course in a subtle way. some concepts came up, like, will there be ethics in business ever? isn't business skills require one to be manipulative... or not-very-ambitious people wouldn't enter it, or stay minority to make a real impact? as a related topic of course, quantum physics concepts popped up... could there be multiple universes? does time split us up and simultaneously we exist in many universes (unconnected) at the same time?

saw a play, 'mahadevbhai', it was in english, 'mahadev' was secretary of gandhi (father of indian nation)... the play was based on mahadev's life and his proximity to gandhi. well, in india whenever any gandhian policies come up in discussion, there seem to be pro & anti gandhian opinions flying around... was gandhi a mahatma (great soul) or not? should it be determined on the basis of his personal life or political efforts? after his death in 1948, almost 60 years after, his decisions at those times can be tricky to analyze as things change... so many hidden doors and taboos come out in the open, and we still have a long way to go.

started reading a play by 'chekhov'. his short stories and play's are world famous. read that, 'chekhov through trivial words and everyday events reveals truths'... like dostoevsky. existential school of psychology also talks about these 2 authors.
CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) also tries to use the surface talk to understand deeper thoughts and beliefs. i guess the good actors (read the one's who are able to understand the analysis of charcters, inner shades painted by writers) would have a good time with psych concepts. well, sometimes its surprising to see the media using many psych concepts, but awareness of psych concepts seem alien or scary to majority of population. surprise includes vagueness to some extent i guess, and it helps to deal with boredom at times? yaawwnn.. bye 4 now.

Do you want to be 'Uniquely normal' or 'Normally unique' ?
kinda the same theme of this blog title...

We all want to be unique, the numero uno, out-standing etc. but dont want to be thought of as a freak... Want to be with the masses, atleast not be part of discriminated minority, as in not being abnormal...

The classic cause for internal clash ? Whatever it is, it creates drives... ambitions, goals to achieve.

Everyone tries to make 'their own' group a superior class minority, even if they belong to that group by accident or had no other choice. one example is gender and the concept of feminism. Democracy becomes an excuse.

Well, what's does this guy (blogger) thinks of himself? (or herself, since i have not revealed my gender)... anyway, that's not the issue here... but that's idea for another blog. Bye for now.

whew! its been a long time since i wrote anything here...
Inspiration is rare and impressing (thoughts into a paper or a monitor) tedious...

i had been travelling a bit. found a nice phrase/concept through discussion with a friend 'deux ex machinas', and have matured (i am less frequently bothered by my lack of goals and all those practical life hocus-focus)...

of course, about travelling, Tarkarli, a beach near Malvan area of Maharashtra state is a cool place to visit... great sand, clean waters which i thought would be impossible in india, and not many people... by visiting this place, you will get what you really want from life... which is?